dir:  Shirin Neshat
pro: Barbara Gladstone, Jerôme de Noirmont, Oleg Kokhan, IndiePix Films, Essential Filmproduktion, Coop99, Parisienne de Production
sc: Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari
ph: Martin Gschlacht
mus: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Abbas Bakhtiari
ed: George Cragg, Jay Rabinowitz, Julia Wiedwald, Patrick Lambertz, Christof Schertenleib, Sam Neave
cast: Pegah Ferydoni, Arita Shahrzad, Shabnam Tolouei, Orsi Tóth
dis Against Gravity

In her feature-film debut, renowned visual artist Shirin Neshat offers an exquisitely crafted view of Iran in 1953, when a British- and American-backed coup removed the democratically elected government. Adapted from the novel by Iranian author Shahrnush Parsipur, the film weaves together the stories of four individual women during those traumatic days, whose experiences are shaped by their faith and the social structures in place.

With a camera that floats effortlessly through the lives of the women and the beautiful countryside of Iran, Neshat explores the social, political, and psychological dimensions of her characters as they meet in a metaphorical garden, where they can exist and reflect while the complex intellectual and religious forces shaping their world linger in the air around them. Looking at Iran from Neshat’s point of view allows us to see the larger picture and realize that the human community resembles different organs of one body, created from a common essence.

Women Without Men / Zanan bedoone mardan, Niemcy-Austria-Francja (DE-AT-FR) 2009, kolor|colour, 96 min